Before Turbo
by High tower girl
Summary: Set pre-film - Major Vanilla Taffy, involving the events leading to Turbo taking over Sugar Rush. Fluff for now, angst to come. Sincerest apologies for such slow updating. Reviews greatly appreciated my darlings!
1. Chapter 1

Vanellope's eyes flickered open as a stream of caramel sunlight began to pour through the castle window. Beside her, Taffyta lay curled tightly around her form, a stubborn frown lacing her delicate features. Vanellope giggled at the sight; it amused her to see how defensive her girlfriend was of her, even when asleep. Stretching, she ran her fingers through the sleeping girl's crystalline blonde hair.

'Taffy…hey, Taff…it's morning – you owe me a re-race at Frosty Rally'

Taffyta stirred, swatting away Vanellope's hand.

'Nggh…won't lose…you …'

Vanellope smirked yet again; she always found Taffyta's sleep-talking incredibly endearing.

'Hey, stop dreaming about me beating you and wake up ya big sugar lump' Vanellope nudged her a little harder, and was met with two glacier blue eyes fluttering open.

'You ready to eat some serious icing-sugar?'

But Vanellope's playful smirk soon faded as she saw a familiar look of fear and confusion shadow her girlfriend's features.

'You okay Taff?' she asked, concerned.

'Yeah...I…just a bad dream…' As she was still holding Vanellope close she could feel Taffyta's rapid heartbeat. 'Taff, you're shaking'

'Yeah…I don't know if I feel like racing today…' Today was Sunday, after all – the arcade was closed.

Only Vanellope saw her girlfriend's true demeanour – beyond that hard outer coating of bitchy comments and condescending glares was a soft layer of fragility, vulnerability.

'Aw, Taff – but you're my best competition! It's no fun without you, it's just too easy beating everyone else' Vanellope winked and smiled, but Taffyta weakly shook her head.

'I think I'll just go pick some lollipops or something. I'm really sorry, Van, I just don't feel right about something.'

'Man, that sucks – but if you really don't feel up to it, that's fine' Vanellope planted a soft kiss on her girlfriend's forehead. 'Just watch out for double-stripes.' She paused. 'So…what did you dream about that freaked you out so much?'

'Well…you had crashed…but…it wasn't normal…you didn't…come back.' Her eyes glazed over as she replayed the nightmare in her head. 'There was this other racer…his head looked kind of like a skull'

Vanellope glitched a little at the ominous words. Taffyta shook her head .

'I'm sure it was nothing, Taff. I'll be fine.' She gave her girlfriend a comforting hug, before leaping out of bed.

'Yeah, you're right. The other racers will be waiting – you go down to the track, Van. I'll see you later'

'See ya, Taff'


	2. Chapter 2

Taffyta trudged through the landscape of lurid colours aimlessly, hard candy crunching beneath her feet. Despite its garishness and obstructive patches of chocolate mud, she felt most at ease within the forest of lollipops that encircled the entrance of Sugar Rush – it was where she went when her mind needed clearing. After all, it was also where she had gone on her first date with Vanellope.

But today her mentality was far from undisturbed. It was not often she was so affected by dreams, but her last had been on constant replay since the night before. Her teeth clenched down on the raspberry lollipop held in her mouth as the images flooded her mind yet again.

A white face, pixelated and distorted, a mad grin plastered to it, and poisonously yellow, protuberant eyes…

A screech of brakes. Her girlfriend's crumpled form…glitching, before dissolving away…

_What if it did mean something?_ She shook her head profusely. Dreams are just dreams, right? And yet she felt like her code was trying to tell her something - that dream seemed almost implanted in her by some greater force. And that face – she was sure she'd seen it somewhere else…

_Maybe I should at least head down to the race – watch from the sidelines or something. _

As Taffyta turned to head back to her parked kart, the sound of the entrance to Sugar Rush fizzling open rippled through the silence. Her head whipped around at the noise, and her eyes widened in fear as she recognised the figure that emerged…

A few levels away, Vanellope's car screeched to a halt at the start line of Frosty Rally. Crystals of sugar snow danced around her as she made her way to the racers huddled in a group. She shuddered slightly – Frosty Rally was cold and barren in comparison to the other tracks, and arguably the most challenging. _Shame Taffyta's not here to keep me warm. _She thought, sighing.Still, the congregation of racers looked cheery enough (particularly Adorabeezle Winterpop, who was a pro at the ice-laden track.) Clearing her throat, Vanellope joined the ensemble.

'Hello fellow racers! Sorry about the minor delay, had a few things to deal with this morning' The racers murmured their greetings to 'Princess' Vanellope; Candlehead even curtseyed sheepishly.

'Come on, guys, how many times have we been through this – I'm a racer, not a royal. Save the bowing for Princess Peach'

'Your highne- I mean Vanellope, where's Taffyta?' asked Jubileena.

'Oh, she was um…she wasn't feeling great – she's skipping this one out. Pretty lucky for you slow guys seeing as she's never failed to make it on the roster'

A few suspicious glances were exchanged, but the majority shrugged and made their way to their cars.

The crowd was relatively small – only the hardier of the sugar rush citizens bothered turning up for the frosty rally. The snow was falling rapidly now – it was a struggle just for the racers to make their way onto the track.

Vanellope was the last to get into her Kart, after helping Candlehead up after tripping over numerous times in the snow, and having to relight her extinguished candle. She might enjoy poking fun at the other racers, but Vanellope always made sure it was a fair game. Flinging her Tiara she felt obliged to wear to the side of the track, she fired up her kart's engine.

The countdown sounded, the lights went from red to green, and the racers' karts screeched into life and sped into the flurry of white.


	3. Chapter 3

'Who-wha-how?' A pixelated figure with fluorescent yellow eyes, grey skin and what looked like a racing costume had emerged in out of Sugar Rush's entrance. Taffyta could hear her pulse increase in speed. This was not good. 'But…you're...' the figure let out a sharp, biting laugh.

'…your soon to be ruler. Out of the way, sweetheart'

The figure's head jerked and twitched momentarily, red pixels distorting his macabre features. Shoving Taffyta into with a forceful push, she stumbled and landed in a chocolate mud puddle. Wiping her face, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her to where the figure had gone. _I have to stop this._ Panting, she could up with the rogue game character. But it was too late. Yellow eyes flashed menacingly at her from behind her kart steering wheel. The wheels screeched around, and all that was left behind was a cloud of cocoa powder.

Taffyta gasped. Tears threatened to leak out of her eyes.

'Oh god…oh god…this is my entire fault…'

And then something horrific occurred to her. Sugar Rush was currently the only racing game in Litwak's Arcade. She remembered not that long ago of hearing a history of previous racing games; her mind flashbacked to a conversation she overheard in Game Central Station:

'…_And that was the end of Turbo Time, AND the Roadblasters,'  
'Oh my god, so what happened to Turbo?'  
'He vanished. Some say you can still see his ghost round the station…yellow eyes watching you…'  
'Stop freaking me out! I just hope for the sake of that new Sugar Rush racing game that he's gone for good'_

The realisation dropped like a stone onto Taffyta's conscious, that's who she had seen in her dream. The most notorious game-jumper in arcade history was heading for the straight for the race track.

'What have I done?'

Vanellope winced against the cold air that whipped around her face. She was ahead as usual, but it was no fun without Taffyta as competition. She increased the speed of her kart as she passed through Avalanche Highway, a section of track notorious for sending racers to last place. The track was barely visible as snow pelted down, and she couldn't see any racers surrounding her. She hunched lower into her race kart, shielding herself from the wind.

It felt oddly lonely to be so ahead of everyone. A pang of guilt ripples through her as mind wondered back to her girlfriend; she hoped she was ok. _'Maybe I should have taken the day off with her…she's gonna be so bored…'_

Just as this thought passed, a glistening pink translucent car was emerging from behind her. Vanellope breathed a sigh of relief, as she noticed the vehicle in her wing mirror.

'I knew you wouldn't wanna miss out on an opportunity to beat me' she called behind.

But as she squinted in her wing mirror she realised that it was definitely not her girlfriend driving.

'No…I certainly wouldn't, Princess' a low voice sneered from the car.

The car caught up to her, and a racer she definitely did not want to see grinned from behind the wheel

'What…I don't…where's Taffyta?'

Then everything happened extremely fast. Taffyta's car swerved in front of Vanellope, the racer within chuckling threateningly, before he disappeared in a flurry of red pixels. Vanellope threw her foot against the brakes, but it was too late. Her kart crumpled into the one in front of her, and her small frame was strewn out of her seat, landing against the trackside.

Groaning, she looked hazily upwards. A rumble could be heard rolling down from the sugar coated valley sides, and a thought swam through her dazed mind that she hadn't made it out of Avalanche Highway. A sheet of blank white enveloped her vision, before turning to inky darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

_Yo. This chapter has some angsty stuff in, just to warn ya. Kind of embarrassing I sit at home writing stuff like this. Anyway, sorry it's pretty short. Still working out how it's gonna go from here, have a vague idea. Again, sorry for slow updating – actually been pretty busy outside the internet for once…job interviews and exams and shit. Anyway, hope this doesn't suck! Reviews are immensely appreciated! x_

It took a few minutes before the other racers caught up to the remains of Vanellope's ruined kart, and the mass of stiflingly sugary snow that had coated the track. Snow continued to fall relentlessly, distorting the scene to a grainy film of white. Adorabeezle was the first to reach the scene, before Candlehead, Jubileena and the others followed.

'What the-why hasn't the avalanche cleared itself? There's never normally this much snow' Adorabeezle mused.

More and more karts screeched to a halt, and the racers got out assessing the scene.

'What's gone on here? Looks like the Princess' racing skills aren't what they used to be' scoffed Rancis. Amongst murmurs and nervous giggles, Jubileena raised her voice.

'Stop smirking guys – why's her kart still here? Wouldn't it have regenerated with her by now? Something's not normal about this'

The crowd stood in bewilderment; as Sugar Rush was still relatively new to the arcade, nothing like this had happened before. Suddenly Taffyta burst through the crowd, panting heavily. Despite the chilling temperatures, sweat coated her face from her lengthy journey to the track, and her icy blue eyes were wide with panic.

'Where is she? Is Van OK?' Her eyes fell to the rubble from Vanellope's kart, and then the snow.

'No…no, no…'

Desperately she began clawing through the snow mound, tears now dropping from her face before dissolving into the white ice crystals.

'Taffyta, what're you doing? I'm sure she's just been re-set to the start of the track'

Taffyta ignored them, and dug her hand further into the freezing white. Candlehead stepped cautiously over to her, and put a tentative hand on her shoulder. 'Taffy…it's ok'. Taffyta shoved her away. 'NO, it's not! You have no idea how serious this is!' she snarled. Upset, Candlehead retreated.

Taffyta continued her furious digging. Stretching as far as she could beneath the snow, her fingers brushed against the softness of skin.

'Van…oh god, she is here!' Fingers raked away snow, further and further until the image she reached snow that was tinged pink, and eventually a slushy red. The image from her worst nightmares lay in front of her.

Vanellope lay crumpled, broken. The surrounding racers drew back in alarm; Candlehead burst into violent sobs, Jubileena gasped in horror before rushing to her kart to send for help. Taffyta sunk to Vanellope's level, picked up her limp body and cradled her in her arms, stroking matted dark hair away to reveal a pale face. Her skin was a bluish grey from exposure to the cold, and was marbled with purple bruises. Her breaths were shallow and thin, but at the contact of Taffyta's warmth her liquid mahogany eyes wavered open.

'Taff…I…you were right…should have listened' she mumbled, each word obviously a struggle to be released from her cold-numbed lips. Dull blue pixels distorted her face momentarily; even her glitching was feebler than usual. Taffyta shushed her 'no, no - it's all my fault, I shouldn't have let you race….I' Taffyta was halted by a lump in her throat; she couldn't bear to tell her what mortal danger they all could face, not now. 'Oh god Vanellope – I'm so sorry!' She pressed her girlfriend closer to her, shielding her from the mocking cry of the wind, sobs shuddering through her body.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hello friends! Sorry for such a long wait for this chapter – been really stressed with recent exams and stuff. This gets a bit complicated at this point – the scenes between Vanellope and Taffyta and Turbo are meant to be happening simultaneously, so sorry if it's a little hard to follow – hope it's worth the wait! This is basically my interpretation of how Turbo took over Sugar Rush [ Also warning for use of a naughty word :P ] Reviews much appreciated! x_

The DCHS was quick to arrive on the scene – the Department of Code Health and Security was not exclusive to Sugar Rush, but operated throughout all games. It was only necessary in emergencies that would occur due to foreign invasion of games – usually viruses or hacking. Similar to Game Central's security systems, it was run by a series of interactive holograms.

Taffyta could hardly bear to watch as her girlfriend's limp body was hauled into the ambulance. Despite everyone's concern and fear for the princess, racers were asked to leave - but Taffyta insisted on staying to make sure she was ok. A sneering voice at the back of her mind was insisting that this was all her fault.

Amongst the chaos, of course no one had noticed a driver in a red and white suit scurry his way off the course with the others. Laughing curtly, he marvelled at how brilliantly the avalanche part of the track had worked to his advantage, before burrowing his way out of the snowy track. 'Now to get to this castle…that's where the game's code had got to be…' Turbo sneered.

xxxx

'Her code's been damaged, which already seemed to have a glitch defect. It'll affect her current physical appearance and reactionary motors, but she'll be on the mend soon enough.' Taffyta, the only racer who had been allowed to stay with Vanellope, nodded – but the hologram's words comforted her little.  
'Looks like this sort of damage could only be caused by a game jumper. Last time issues like this started up was in '89 with that damn Turbo…so do you have any recollection of who did this, miss?'

Taffyta gasped. She tried to formulate words, but her throat felt like it was clogged with syrup. 'Please…I…I can't talk about it now. Can I just see her…please?' She knew she should have told them who she suspected had caused this, but she just wanted to be with her girlfriend more than anything.

xxxx

Turbo laughed mechanically as he stood before the door to the castle. With Sugar Rush being a child-friendly racing game – free of weapon-bearing enemies, it had been incredibly easy to reach the centre of the game. He murmured to himself at how much better his plan in this game had worked out than his attempt to take over Grand Theft Auto. 'Everyone in this game…is so fucking stupid' he snarled, noticing that no one had thought to lock the castle door, apparently. With a forceful push the door groaned open.

A glittering hallway of pink lay before him; walls were laced with swirling frosting wallpaper, crystallized sugar chandeliers sparkled above, and caramel light flooded through candy stained glass.  
'Hmm…rather…effeminate décor…gonna have to change my image a bit to fit into this place.' His footsteps echoed in the deserted hallway. 'Now where's the code room…'

'Umm…excuse me sir?' A low, drawling voice swam through the air from behind him. Turbo swerved around. 'Who's there?'.  
'Down here' Turbo's eyes swivelled to foot level. A small, lurid green figure with a stubborn frown and tired looking eyes stood before him.

'I don't believe you have any right to be in Princess Vanellope's palace'. Sour Bill gulped a little – this intruder looked like trouble.  
Turbo let out a manic laugh. 'So this was the best security they could enforce? A measly little hard-candy?! Oh, this game just gets better and better!' Before Sour Bill had time to call for back up, a strong foot had forced him to the ground. 'OK, this is how it's going to work – you tell me where the game code is in this place – or I know a certain game character called Pac-Man who could easily mistake you for his lunch'. Sour Bill squirmed to get out from under Turbo's foot, but couldn't. 'I…alright! It's down the 3rd corridor, to the left! Just please stop standing on me'

Turbo shook his head malevolently. 'Not yet. The password – need that too' Sour Bill shook his head. Turbo's foot pressed down harder; cracking the hard candy body below 'Tell. Me.' He hissed. Sour Bill was almost certain that the rogue racer's eyes flashed crimson for a split second.

'I-alright! It's the Konami code! Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A'

Turbo relaxed his foot 'How predictable. Thank you, small ugly candy.' He forcefully kicked the small figure out of the way. 'You'll make a loyal servant, I'm sure, once I'm ruler…or maybe I'll just feed you to Pac-man…'

After following the directions, he came across a door wired to an old games controller. He tapped in the code hastily, and the doorway opened into a dark chasm of luminous, vein like cords, each leading to a different aspect of the game. He inhaled before diving into the galaxy-like void. 'Now…first things first, we need to get rid of that princess girl – if my driving didn't already finish her off. Aha!' Pulsating in the centre of the web was a glittering pink name, larger than that of the other racers: Vanellope Von Schweetz' Turbo pressed his hand against the name 'let's just make a few minor adjustments…'

xxxxx

'Vanellope? How are you?' Taffyta laid a tentative hand on her forehead. Vanellope's eyes wavered open; they were dazed, but relief flooded her features at the sight of her girlfriend.

'Hey, Taff…' she smiled weakly. Taffyta squeezed her hand 'You're going to be just fine, Van.' She planted a small kiss on the weaker girl's forehead. Vanellope was about to respond, but her eyes suddenly widened with panic.

'Taff, something's going wrong, I can feel it in my code…something's happening to me…to this game. The racer…the one that hit me…where did he go?'  
Taffyta's heart began to race after hearing Vanellope's ominous comment. 'I…I don't know Van, but the security are on the hunt for him already. Please, try not to worry, it's going to be OK.'

'No Taff – I swear I can feel myself getting weaker…I'm scared, Taffyta…am I going to die?' New tears began to form in her eyes. Taffyta couldn't bear this – it was so unlike Vanellope – she was normally so strong, so brave.  
'I…I don't know, Van – I'm sure it's all in your head…please, just relax' She could even hear the uncertainty in her own voice. Something was still wrong.

xxxxx

Turbo continued to pluck off the cords that connected Vanellope to the game.

xxxxx

'Ow! I swear something's really hurting me, Taff, it feels like my code's being pulled apart' Taffyta could only look at her, confused and worried. What was happening?

xxxxx

Turbo's gaze met the final wire connecting Vanellope to the rest of the game – the brightest. His eyes followed it to the name of another racer: Taffyta Muttonfudge. 'So this was her little girlfriend, then? I'll have to make sure they don't become acquainted with one another under my ruling.'  
He swiftly plucked the pair's names apart.

xxxx

Both Taffyta and Vanellope suddenly felt a sharp, aching pain, like their hearts had been wrenched away. Taffyta's horrified gaze met Vanellope's for a split second, before their eyes rolled to the back of their heads, and they both fell unconscious.

xxxx

'And, finally, just to be safe' Turbo filed through the numerous game components, before finding 'citizens' memories', and then 'system reboot'.

'Long live the new King of Sugar Rush' he smirked.

Blackout.


End file.
